Julia Donaldson
Description Born Hampstand to James and Elizabeth Donaldson she began her career after graduating college. Donaldson originally wanted to originally write songs for children's television. She focused solely on writing after one of her songs, A Squash and a Squeeze, was published. Along with her frequent collaborator, Axel Scheffler, they created a breakthrough success with her most famous book The Gruffalo. Reader's Reviews What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks What the Ladybird Heard is a tale of a small, quiet yet very clever ladybird that lives on a very noisy farm. Through all of the MOOing, HISSing, QUACKing, NEIGHing, BAAing and CLUCKing, the little ladybird discovers that two pesky robbers (Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len) have a cunning plan to steal the farmer's prize cow with a map of the farm! The ladybird then tells her farmyard friends about the ruthless robbers plan and makes their own cunning plan to trick the menacing thieves. Read it and find out more! This story allows many opportunities for children to fully engage with the story by making animal noises and have lots of laughs. The story is made even more amazing by its rhyming format ('a fat red hen, a duck on a pond, and a goose in a pen'), use of alliteration ('a hairy hog, a handsome horse and a dainty dog') and beautiful illustrations. Oh and let's not forget the glittery ladybird to find on each page to keep readers engaged. This book would be perfect to use in the classroom, most effectively as a whole-class book. It is most suited for Early Years children, but could also be used in KS1. It would also be a good book to have in the book corner, as the illustrations and rhymes make it easily accessible. See the story come to life on stage… http://www.whattheladybirdheardlive.co.uk/. Parental Guidance *Reading age: 3+ *Read aloud age: 4+ Clean. List of books *''A Squash and a Squeeze'' (1993) *''The Gruffalo'' (1999) *''Monkey Puzzle'' (2000) *'' Room on the Broom'' (2002) *''The Smartest Giant in Town'' (2002) *''Spinderella'' *''Night Monkey, Day Monkey'' (2002) *''The Snail and the Whale'' (2003) *''Tales from Acron Wood'' (2003) *''The Dinosaur's Diary'' (2003) *''One Ted Falls Out of Bed'' (2004) *''The Gruffalo's Child'' (2004) *''The Giants and the Jones'' (2004) *''The Magic Paintbrush'' (2004) *''The Wrong Kind of Bark'' (2004) *''Brick-a-Breck'' (2004) *''Bombs and Blackberries'' (2004) *''The Head in the Sand'' (2004) *''Chocolate Moose for Greedy Goose'' (2005) *''Charlie Cook's Favorite Book'' (2005) *''The Quick Brown Fox Club'' (2005) *''Sharing a Shell'' (2005) *''Wriggle and Roar'' (2005) *''Crazy Mayonnaisy Mum'' (2005) *''Princess Mirror-Belle'' (2005) *''Princess Mirror-Belle and the Magic Shoes'' (2006) *''The Princess and the Wizard'' (2006) *''Rosie's Hat'' (2006) *''Hippo has a Hat'' (2006) *''Play Time'' (2006) *''Follow the Swallow'' (2007) *''Tiddler'' (2007) *''Tyrannosaurus Drip'' (2007) *''One Mole Digging a Hole'' (2008) *''Stick Man'' (2008) *''Toddle Waddle'' (2009) *''What the Ladybird Heard'' (2009) *''Tabby McTat'' (2009) *''The Troll'' (2009) *''Running on the Cracks (2009) *Cave Baby'' (2010) *''Zog'' (2010) *''Freddie and the Fairy'' (2011) *''The Rhyming Rabbit'' (2011) *'' The Highway Rat'' (2011) *''Jack and the Flumflum Tree'' (2011) *''Goat Goes to Playgroup'' (2012) *''The Singing Mermaid'' (2012) *''Superworm'' (2012) *''The Paper Dolls'' (2012) *''The Snakes Who Came to Say'' (2012) *''Mr. Birdnest and the House'' (2012) External links *http://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/ Category:Authors Category:Fantasy